Madness-Our House

OUR HOUSE

by MADNESS

Father wears his Sunday best
Mother's tired she needs a rest
The kids are playing up downstairs
Sister's sighing in her sleep
Brother's got a date to keep
He can't hang around

Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our

Our house it has a crowd
There's always something happening
And it's usually quite loud
Our mum she's so house-proud
Nothing ever slows her down
And a mess is not allowed

Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our

Our house, in the middle of our street
(Something tells you)
(That you've got to get away from it)
Our house, in the middle of our

Father gets up late for work
Mother has to iron his shirt

Then she sends the kids to school
Sees them off with a small kiss
She's the one they're going to miss
In lots of ways

[Instrumental Interlude]

Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our

I remember way back then when
Everything was true and when
We would have such a very good time
Such a fine time
Such a happy time
And I remember how we'd play
Simply waste the day away
Then we'd say
Nothing would come between us
Two dreamers

Father wears his Sunday best
Mother's tired she needs a rest
The kids are playing up downstairs
Sister's sighing in her sleep
Brother's got a date to keep
He can't hang around

Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our
Our house, was our castle and our keep
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, that was where we used to sleep
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/madness/ourhouse.html

I chose Our House by Madness because, even though it is crazy, it depicts the idea of home maybe more than the other poems and songs. This one is very realistic. It is about a house full of children running wild, older sister resting, big brother going out for a date, mom needs rest but has to clean and iron. It is a loud household. It shows real life happening in real time. It also hints that everyone will miss mom one day as if she held everything together in the chaos. This were good back then but they were naïve to think they would stay that way. “Two dreamers”, “we’d play and waste the day away”.

What makes this poem work is the upbeat loud and crazy music that work with the lyrics. Emotionally it makes me happy and has a very catchy tune. The use of repetition in “Our house, in the middle of our street, our house, in the middle of our street our house, in the middle of our street,” seems to indicate that they are neither upper class nor lower class but either way they don’t care. They are happy. The images of the kids playing “up downstairs” puts to mind a wild, lively group. The use of rhythm and rhyme work well here. “Crowd, loud, house-proud, not allowed” are fun playful words as well.

This depicts most households that I’ve been privileged enough to know. They were full of love as much as the calm and quiet ones. I think the meaning of the title indicates that even though this is not the “perfect” house in some peoples terms, for them it was.